One of the great insights of model theory is the observation that very mundane-looking "combinatorial configurations" carry a huge amount of geometric information about a structure. In this talk, I will explain what we mean by "combinatorial configuration," and then I will sketch out how configurations can be "smoothed out" to yield Ramsey classes, which can themselves be analyzed using model-theoretic tools. I will also discuss the kinds of model-theoretic dividing lines that can be defined just through the interaction of structures with Ramsey classes.